Tag Archives: fitbit

So a couple of months ago I decided to expand my little Fitbit family by purchasing the Flex 2, in addition to the Charge 2 I’ve had for almost 18 months now. Yep, I’m that crazy, but I had my reasons.

I love my Charge 2, it does everything that I need it to, but the only occasional both is that its a little on the large side, and as it can only be worn on the wrist, its not always the most stylish option, even though I have multiple different coloured straps to colour co-ordinate it! This is where the Flex 2 comes in.

The Flex 2 is the smallest of all Fitbit’s trackers – its even smaller than the Zip, which is the cheapest tracker option, and the first device I owned. It comes with a wrist strap that you can just pop the device into, or alternatively you can get a clip for it (not official Fitbit merch but super cheap on Amazon), and if these options aren’t pretty enough for you, Fitbit also offer a bracelet and pendant that the device slots into, and no-one would be the wiser that you were wearing a fitness tracker! I bought the bracelet, although I bought an unofficial version from Amazon because the official ones will set you back £79..

But how does it stack up as a device?

Being one of Fitbit’s cheaper devices, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles; I think had I not owned a Charge 2, I’d have been more impressed by it. Of course it counts your steps, and it does auto-track some activities quite well, and unlike any other charger (minus the new Iconic) the Flex 2 is swim-proof, so if you want to be able to track your swimming, this is the only device you can get, and this was another one of the reasons I chose it as recently I have been swimming a lot more. Other features of the device are sleep tracking, and you can set it up for reminders to move and also call and text notifications.

The main difference, however, between the Flex 2 and its family of devices is the display – its the only tracker that doesn’t have a proper digital display, instead just having a little row of LED lights that light up according the your goals; if you have your main goal as being steps, for every 2,500 steps you do, an LED lights up, so when you hit your 10,000 steps for the day, all the lights will be lit. This means that you can only keep track of one particular focus, and you can’t use your Flex to check the time, like I keep trying to do.. Now of course if you’re wearing it in a pendant or bracelet, or even clipped away somewhere, this isn’t going to bother you all that much, but for me I find this a little annoying.

The other features that the Flex 2 doesn’t include which my Charge 2 does is heart rate monitoring, stairs climbed and it doesn’t have any sort of GPS, so when it comes to running, my Flex stays in the gym bag.

Personally, I think its a good little device if you’re just wanting to keep an eye on your steps and activity, and it works great in the water if you’re a swimmer, but as I’ve mentioned previously, I think if I didn’t have a Charge 2, I would have been much more impressed by the Flex 2. I do use it, of course, but I tend to wear it on days where I want to make sure my steps are counted, but I’m not doing any other sort of workout, apart from swimming, obviously! I also sometimes interchange my trackers during the day, so I’ll get up and go to the gym in the morning with my Charge 2, and then switch it for the Flex to wear to work – and if you’re wondering, this all works fine in terms of syncing with the Fitbit app as it combines the data from the two trackers!

The RRP of the Flex 2 is £69.99, but you can find it as low as £40-50 if you shop around!

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I have been a Fitbit girl for about 5 years now, give or take some time off in between killing my little Zip in a washing machine and replacing it with my current Charge 2. I have always loved their fitness trackers, so much so that I have never been tempted to try any other brand, and so when they announced last year that they were releasing their first pair of wireless headphones, I was pretty convinced that I was going to want them. Lo and behold, they came in a copper/rose gold kinda colour, and I knew that I wanted them.

I got the earphones for Christmas, and have been using them for running/working out at the gym ever since, although I tend to alternate a little bit with my Urbanista headphones when at the gym, but I guess its been about 6 weeks of using them at least once or twice a week.

The only real concern I had with these, or any wireless earphones for that matter, is whether or not they would stay in my ears. Typically in the past I’ve never bothered running with earphones because of the endless struggle of having to push them back into my ears every 30 seconds, and I really didn’t want to be doing the same with these. However, the great thing about the Flyer is that they have an interchangeable design, so each pair comes with a few different sizes of the ear buds, and then also two sizes of both ‘fins’ and ‘wings’, which are both different fittings to help the earphones stay in your ears. I’d watched some YouTube reviews before deciding whether or not to take the plunge with these, and more than one review said that the fins were not great, but that the wings were awesome, so I’ve always used the smaller of the two wing sizes.

The wings tuck underneath the little inner loop of your ear – when I googled it, I saw a lot of websites referring to it as the rook, but that was mainly in terms of piercings, but maybe you know what that means! Because they’re rubbery and flexible, this means that they bend to fit the space and then keep a pretty firm grip there, and as soon as I tried this type of fitting I knew this would be the best type for me. What I really like about this is that there’s nothing going around your ear, like many wireless earphones have, so you don’t feel any real weight or pressure on your ears.

There’s a little on button on one of the ear pieces, and whenever you turn them on a little voice tells you how much charge the headphones have, which is really handy, and if the battery is running low during your workout, it will also pop up to tell you, and also tells you roughly how much time you’ve got left, which is pretty neat. There’s a little control panel on the adjustable cable for volume, and you can also press and hold each of the volume + or – to skip tracks, so you can keep your phone tucked safe away.

I’ve not had a single problem with the Bluetooth connectivity, and can easily walk from one side of my gym to the other before experiencing any sort of skipping. Before getting these, I have on occasion used my boyfriend’s Beats wireless earphones, and found that they skipped a lot more than the Fitbit, even when in close range with my phone, so that’s something! Once set up to your phone, they instantly connect every time you turn them on, and I’ve never had to faff around with having to reconnect them if I’ve not used them in a few days.

Sound wise, I have absolutely zero complaints. The music is clear, there’s no distortion from the rubber buds and they even do a little bit of noise cancelling too. Apparently there are actually two different sound settings, but I’ve always been pretty happy with how mine have sounded so I’ve never looked into how you change settings or what the other setting gives you!

Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with these earphones, and I certainly haven’t experienced the annoyance of constant readjustment and pushing them back in every time I go for a run. The one thing I would say is that it does take a little bit of time getting used to how you want the fit in terms of the attachments and the strap, so there’s a bit of trial and error in the first week or so, but honestly I do think these are a great pair of fitness earphone, which is ultimately what Fitbit designed them to be. My colour is officially called Lunar Grey, but there’s nothing grey about them, and I think they’re a really good looking pair of earphones, and they do also come in Nightfall Blue if the copper thing isn’t really your style.

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In one form or another, I’ve been using Fitbits on and off for the last 4 years. I started off in 2013 with a Zip, which then had to be replaced with another Zip following an incident with the washing machine, and then when the second Zip met the same untimely demise, I went a little while without, until last year I upgraded to a higher spec device: the Charge 2.

I’ve always loved using Fitbits. I love being able to track my activity but I also find them so motivating as I’m forever wanting to hit my daily goals and targets, plus being able to log all my workouts as well as track my runs via GPS mean that I have everything I need to know in one place. I check my stats religiously, which is why sometimes I need to take time off.

Sure, its amazing when you sync your device at the end of the day and you’ve got that little green circle around all of your targets, but what about when you don’t? Sometimes its not always possible to hit every goal, you’re only human after all, but I often struggle with the disappointment if I’ve had a particularly bad day or week, and sometimes I can be a little obsessive – I’ve been known to spend 10-20 minutes walking round my bedroom in the evening because I’m only 500 steps away from my daily target and I don’t want to go to bed until I’ve hit it, and that’s not always healthy.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been struggling with a back injury; I had to take some time off work and could hardly move, let alone get to the gym, and that on its own really gets me down, so the last thing I need is something on my wrist to remind me that I’ve only done 150 steps all day and am at the bottom of the leaderboard of all my friends. Whenever I get an injury, one of the first things I do is take off my Fitbit, because I want to concentrate on getting better and healing, and not pushing myself too hard just because I feel obliged to.

I know I’ll always go back. Keeping fit and active makes me so happy, and my Fitbit is a daily reminder of that, but keeping a healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body, and I always want to make sure that comes first.

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I know when January comes round, everyone starts declaring that this is going to be their best year yet, but for me, I am 100% determined to make it so, especially when it comes to continuing on my fitness journey.

And while I appreciate that its not something everyone’s into or wants to read, something that I find really motivating in pretty much every aspect of my life is statistics and figures – I’m forever in competition with myself, and I thought it would be something a little different for 2017 to post regulars updates to track my progress!

So how have the last 4 weeks looked? Thanks to my Fitbit Charge 2, here are the figures (as of this morning!):

Total steps: 343488

Number of runs: 7

Number of gym visits: 15

Fitbit goals hit: 24/28 days

Favourite meal of the month

I’ve been ever so slightly lazy with meal prep this month, but having an M&S round the corner from work meant I discovered their amazing Sweet Potato nourish bowl – full of yummy veggies and whole food goodness!

Favourite workout:

While I don’t imagine many people go on holiday and visit the gym, I had the most fun working out in the gym of Newport Bay Club Hotel in Disneyland Paris!

Workout soundtrack

I have been LIVING for the new Little Mix album, Glory Days. Its 100% girl power and sass and its been powering me through all my workouts this month!

Injuries:

I’ve had a few issues with my back this month, so I’ve been taking it fairly easy. Something that I made the huge mistake of doing last year was trying to push myself through injuries, so this year I’m working on taking time off when I need it, and not stressing about being away from the gym.

Achievements:

I earned my Helicopter badge on Fitbit for 500 flights of stairs, and I’ve also been working on a really exciting project which you’ll get to hear about next week (pssst, Wednesday!). I’ve not been focusing too much on measurements this month, just because its only January and I’m not worrying too much straight after Christmas.

What I will say, however, is that despite getting back into the swing of things straight after Christmas, I’ve been feeling really good this month, and I am already seeing the results of working hard again, and I can’t wait to see more!

Next month:

February is going to be quite a mixed month. While I’ll be away from the 20th, I’ll be running my first 10K and half marathon races of the year when I’m in Florida, so I’ll be training hard in the run up to going away, then relaxing the majority of time when I’m on holiday – y’know, when I’m not up at 3am to race.. I’m not setting any goals as such, just because I’ll be eating a tonne of Disney food haha!

I won’t do an update in Feb cos I’ll be away, so my next update will be in March, when hopefully I’ll have lots of great news to share with you! Oh, and keep your eye out for something new this coming Wednesday!

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I feel like its about time I wrote this post because I’ve been meaning to for ages!

This is Zip. She’s part of the Fitbit activity tracker family, and I’ve had her for almost two years (this isn’t strictly true, following an unfortunate incident with a washing machine, I had to replace my original one). Zip goes everywhere with me, either in my pocket or clipped onto my underwear, and counts my steps, calories and distance. She’s like a tiny fitness Tamagotchi; the more you do, the happier it gets!

This Zip is the bottom of the range from Fitbit (around £40), so doesn’t have all the fancy features of some of the other trackers – sleep, heart rate, waterproof, etc – but personally I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Its battery powered, but it lasts about 5-6 months before it needs replacing, and automatically syncs to a USB Bluetooth dongle when its nearby, but while other Fitbits can sync automatically to your smartphone, the Zip doesn’t.

The Fitbit Dashboard is where you can check out all your stats, as well as link up with other Fitbit friends, and log activities, food, weight and more! Because my Fitbit can only really track my step movement, after a workout I can log all the extra stuff I do; you can select popular activities from a pre-prepared list, or add your own custom workouts, and this also updates the number of calories burnt, as well as your ‘Very Active Minutes’. The Dashboard is really motivating – nothing better than seeing all your targets go green!

You can also win badges by reaching certain targets – I just won the Monarch Migration for reaching 2,500 lifetime miles!

I really love my Zip, its amazing how motivating this tiny tracker is! I would definitely recommend it to anyone; despite the lack of some features, I don’t feel like I miss out on anything, and the Zip is way cuter than other trackers, and a great price!

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Alongside a number of other upcoming events in my life, Disney is a big reason for improving my fitness levels.

‘Why do I need to be fit to go to Disneyworld?’

Yes, its a theme park, not an assault course, but there are still a number of reasons for hitting the gym before your trip;

1. You underestimate how much walking you’re going to do – the average guest covers around 7 miles per day in the park (I’m going to do some research on this during my trip with the help of my Fitbit), and if you’re not accustomed to walking long distances, or if you’re going in the scorching summer season, it can be a shock to the system.

2. Disney food is to die for – the last thing you want on your holiday is to be on a diet; where’s the fun in that?! With ice-cream sandwiches, bakeries on every corner and some of the coolest restaurants in the world, you shouldn’t have to be concerned with calorie counting, skipping meals or feeling guilty about what you eat.

3. Disney workout clothes – check out what Lookhuman have to offer, but Etsy and other places have amazing stuff too!

4. If you’re going to run just one distance race in your life, runDisney – runDisney organise running weekends and festivals, and yes, the course you run is around the parks! Each weekend/festival usually has a 5k, 10k and half marathon, as well as a Fitness Expo, and these events run throughout the year at both Disney World Florida and Disneyland California. A runDisney half marathon is very high on my Disney bucketlist!

5. Looking good on your holiday – whether its a summer bikini body or just slimming down for photos, a holiday is one of the most common reasons people give for wanting to get fit. It also gives you an excuse to splurge on new clothes, especially if you’re going to be hitting the outlets!

I’m not a total selfie nut, promise! These pictures are from my Instagram @lottiedoesdisney and I tag my workout pictures with #fitfordisney 🙂